Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Enhancing the image of an area
an industrialised city to one of the world's foremost
tourist destinations, built around the popularity of the
Guggenheim Museum.
The global nature of travel and tourism means that it
can be used to raise the profi le of a country or area
on a world scale. Sport and tourism often combine
to project positive images of destinations to a global
audience and stimulate further tourism development,
e.g. the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Sydney and
Barcelona were all very successful in increasing tourist
numbers and raising tourism expenditure. London is
hoping that its success in winning the bid to stage the
Games in 2012 will have a similar effect.
Economic objectives
It is usually for economic reasons that individuals,
organisations and governments fi rst decide to get
involved in the tourism development process. Tourism
can:
•
Create employment;
•
Attract revenue to an area and re-circulate it in the
FOCUS ON INDUSTRY
local economy via the multiplier effect;
•
Increase foreign currency earnings;
THE LONDON OLYMPIC GAMES IN 2012
•
Contribute to economic regeneration.
The staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
in London in 2012 has been described by Britain's
tourism sector as the biggest ever opportunity for
the sector. Industry leaders believe that between
50-75 per cent of Britain's net benefi t from staging
the Games, measured over a 7-10 year period, will
be through tourism. Based on Sydney's example,
the Games could be worth well over £2 billion to the
UK's tourist economy. The Games provide a platform
for the international marketing of both London and
Britain as leisure, business and sporting destinations,
particularly in new and emerging markets such as
China, South Korea, Poland and Thailand.
Employment creation
Creating employment is one of the most important
economic objectives of tourism development. The
World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates
that travel and tourism employs over 235 million
people worldwide, while employment in UK tourism
currently supports 2.6 million jobs. Investing in
tourism development appeals to many developing
nations around the world since jobs in the sector are
relatively easy and cheap to establish, particularly
when compared to jobs in capital-intensive industries
such as engineering, construction and manufacturing.
However, jobs in tourism in developing countries
are sometimes criticised for being seasonal, poorly-
paid and low-skilled - creating a year-round tourism
economy should be the goal of all destinations so as to
ensure well-paid, full-time jobs in the sector.
Weblink
Check out this website for more
information on London's successful bid to
host the Olympics in 2012.
www.london2012.com
Revenue generation
Politicians see tourism as an excellent way of
generating extra wealth for their economies. It is
common throughout the world to have to pay hotel,
airport and border taxes when travelling. In the UK,
the government gains tax revenues from a number of
sources related to tourism, including airline passenger
duty and VAT on tourist services. Tourism can be used
as a springboard for further economic and social
developments in urban and rural regions - the regional
Creating an identity
The promotion of tourism in overseas markets and
with domestic tourists can help to create or maintain
a national or regional identity. Many of the popular
Mediterranean tourist destinations used images of their
way-of-life and landscapes to encourage tourism from
the 1970s onwards. Bilbao in northern Spain has very
successfully used tourism to change its identity from
